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After the surprise turnout of General Thragg, to assist Mark (Invincible) against the arriving Oliver Grayson (Omni-Boy) and Allen the Alien last issue, writer Robert Kirkman slows things right down as Thragg attempts to talk Allen down from releasing the deadly Scourge virus (which would kill off all Vultrumite and Human beings currently living on our planet), by trying to convince him that the parties are currently involved in a bit of a Mexican stand-off. Things begin to get a little heated half way in though, thanks to the untimely arrival of the Guarding the Globe heroes, leading to an all out battle as Invincible attempts to stop Omni-Boy from killing all humanoid life on Earth through the deadly synthesized virus!

It must be said that after the events of issue 87, one almost expected #88 to be a proper battle royale, but as it turns out, Kirkman plays around with us and instead delivers about ten pages of solid, crammed in dialogue, as the two parties attempt to talk one another down. So if you’re not a fan of lengthy dialogue, then you’ll probably skip right through to the heavy action that fills the latter part of the book, but be warned, the dialogue (as expected from Kirkman) plays out pretty damn good!

With most of the book being static scenes in space, artist Ryan Ottley (who handles both the pencils and inks) doesn’t have to worry much with backgrounds for this issue, and so instead devotes his attention to the characters, putting in some great work that straddles just the right border between realism and cartoon, making for great looking comic book art. His character designs and facial features are all fantastic, and despite some silly looking feet at times, Invincible issue 88 is a well drawn adventure that is difficult not to visually enjoy.

Overall, despite the heavy dialogue that makes up the first half of this issue, Invincible #88 reads smoothly, features great lines and then follows up with some excellent action sequences, before finishing off with the final big twist, meaning that this is one title well worth picking up if it happens to cross your path!